New drug charges filed against DUI suspect in deadly crash

The man facing DUI and murder charges in a deadly January crash at a popular food truck location is believed to have one of the same drugs later found in his system in his possession when he got to jail, new indictments announced Thursday suggest.

Author:
Derrick Rose , WHAS

Published:
2:39 PM EDT July 27, 2017

Updated:
2:39 PM EDT July 27, 2017

LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- The man facing DUI and murder charges in a deadly January crash at a popular food truck location is believed to have one of the same drugs later found in his system in his possession when he got to jail, new indictments announced Thursday suggest.

Chad Erdley was originally indicted on two counts of murder, DUI, multiple assaults and wanton endangerment charges stemming from the January 29 incident.

Stacy Walker and Jennie Burton, who were the first two people hit by the Chevy Impala, died at the scene, court records show. Investigators believe Erdley was going between 80-84 MPH and lost control, first striking a parked SUV, nine people, then a food truck.

The new charges he faces are promoting contraband, tampering with physical evidence and illegal possession of the controlled substance Alprazolam, also known by the brands Xanax.

Erdley "knowingly introduced dangerous contraband into Louisville Metro Department of Corrections," the first count of the new indictment reads, adding he "Knowingly and unlawfully having in his possession an amount of a controlled substance classified as a Schedule IV" substance.

The WHAS 11 News iTeam obtained video of Erdley inside the jail hours after his arrest where he appeared to not remember the crash.

Here is the conversation from the video:

"You got a DUI," the officer responded.

"A DUI? How?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there," the officer answered again.

Moments later in the video, Erdley had similar confusion.

"I don’t even know why I was brought in there for."

"A DUI is what they brought you in."

"On like what," Erdley asked, "Alcohol drugs?"

"Yeah, whatever the case may be," the officer said.

Although Erdley could even be seen and heard grimacing, he asked if he had been attacked.

"Did y'all hit me? Why do I feel like my tailbone is all smashed?"

"You were in a car accident," the officer said, to which Erdley responded with an inaudible comment before saying, "See I didn't wreck nowhere," and mumbled.

Erdley's blood alcohol level taken by the officer in the video was .040, the records show. But court-ordered blood tests showed traces of marijuana in Erdley's system as well as Xanax and Hydrocodone.

The new charges add an additional maximum of 11 years in prison if Erdley is convicted.